Argggg welcome back to best DT captains advice in the land. There I am – a HAPPY PIRATE. Last week my top 5 were very good with Ablett (136pts) and Scott Thompson (135pts) leading the way. But as you know, I am the Irish Pirate and I know best.

The Loop Hole

Yes, we have another chance at the LOOP HOLE and this week it is more real than ever because we have players who are not playing such as GWS veteran James McDonald who is suspended. No dumb questions please about how this works… read this carefully!

Pick a person from the Thursday night game and give them the VC

After the game starts… all Lions and Blues will be locked-out

If you like the score your VC has, put McDonald or another person who ISN’T playing this week on your field and give them the “C” so their score (zero) is replaced by the score of your VC … and also by the emergency who is on your bench that you have SELECTED!

Don’t like the score from your VC? Pick a gun to replace them by putting the ‘C’ on them as you usually would.

Confused? Go back to the top and read again. Repeat if necessary.

This works! And for those who are asking… my cut off is usually 120pts. If my VC scores 120+, that’s good enough for me. I doubt we will get any wicked numbers though. 13% of DT coaches own Marc Murphy who would be my main pick followed by Gibbs 5% and Rockliff 5%. I am a little concerned about the amount of time that Rocky spent forward last week. Yes, he did score well, but Melbourne are a fair bit different from Carlton. With that said, he’d be a better option than Mitch Robinson. He’s the guy I will be going with as my VC… hey, he might be great, but I have no other Carlton or Brisbane players to go with. Go Robbo you loose nut!

Lay A Tackle!

If Dane Swan can lay a tackle… LOOK OUT!

Firstly, Swan averages 130 on Richmond in his last 3 games with a very nice 131 coming in his last games against them in 2011. Last week, Swanny was pretty good… he found the ball 31 times, but only scored 102pts. This is because, he only took 3 marks and only laid 1 tackle.

During the week, Nathan Buckley publically said that Swanny needs to work a little harder both ways blah blah blah basically telling him to pull his finger out, lift his efforts and lay a bloody tackle.

Obviously, Swan is now aware of this! He knows he laid 1 tackle and will lift his output this week and this is why…. Here are the last 2 games in 2011 from when Swan had just 1 tackle.

In Rd. 4 last year, Swan laid 1 tackle. The following week he had 7.
Then again in Rd. 14 when he had 1 tackle he had another 7 the following week.

Get my drift. Add a few uncontested marks in there and we should be fine. Let’s bloody hope so! After all, he is the great Dane Swan!

Calvin = 5 … Boydlovers = 0

This is the game every year where I say… AVOID MATTHEW BOYD. People then say… “as if Calvin you sexy pirate, Boyd will smash the Crows”…

These people have been wrong for the last 5 times as Boyd has never scored over 100+ on the Crows in his last 5 games. FACT! They are his worst team by a mile and has only averaged 82 in his last 3 against them. Add to that, Boyd is not playing at his beloved Etihad but at AAMI this week and although it hasn’t mattered in the past where the game is played, he’ll probably score under 100 again… I’m warning you now.

Other Good Options

Scott Pendlebury – averages 113 on the Tigers in his last 3 games with a nice 121 last year. He had 132pts last week with 60 of them coming in the 3rd quarter. Will be great!Marc Murphy – had his 4th highest score for the year on the Lions in his last game against them (128pts) and after 116 last week, he should be a great Loop Hole option, if you are lucky enough to have him this week.Nick Dal Santo – posted 154pts (39d, 7m) on the Suns last year and after Thompson had 39d (135pts) on them last week, I’m tipping something big here.Gary Ablett – didn’t let us down with 136pts last week and had 118 on the Saints last time he played them in 2011. Has always been tagged by Clinton Jones and had 81 and 115 in his only games at Etihad last year.Tom Rockliff – As I’ve previous said, little worried about his time up forward… but it’s still Rocky! Great VC option.

There you go. A little risky really as Pendles, Gary and Thomo were so good last week. But I’m backing in the big Swanny and based on the research, he should be awesome. He averages very well against them and looked pretty good last week against quality opposition in the Hawks. He should kill the Tigers on Saturday night.

Thanks for hanging out with me again – see you next week.

Follow the Irish Pirate @CalvinDT

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Author: Calvin
Do you need a Captain? Then Calvin will help you out. Don't want a Captain? Calvin will tell you anyway. The man who digs deep into stats will help you pick a great captain and give you plenty of DT advice. Follow him: @CalvinDT.

245 Comments

Is anyone considering claye beams from Brisbane? He is only $214,700 and scored 82 on the weekend. I reckon he is one that has definitely flown under the radar. I am seriously considering him in a few rounds time.

After much debate, I have decided that these people are not in fact taking the piss, but are serious.

Now I am no font of DT knowledge, but for the new dream teamers please note the following:

PREMO = DO NOT TRADE ( unless LTI or they have consistently stunk it up, consistent does not mean 1 week )

MIDPRICER = you took a punt by picking them, they will not consistently average over 100. They will fluctuate week on week. Some may be keepers, some will make you money, some won’t..that s why they are mid pricers.

ROOKS = they will go up and down, they are there to make you money. To do that they need to spend longer than 2 weeks in your team.

1 week is 1 week. Every player in your team is not gonna smash it every week. Think about the whole year, what do you want to look like at the nd of the year and how will you get there.

Lastly and most importantly, there is a wealth of awesome DTers on this site and when they give advice you would do well to listen. They include TKOL, Benny, PhilKenSebben, Brappinalong, Eeepobereci, Big Feller, Pettiger, Space Goats,Adzman, Jim Cowski, mtooler and a bunch of others.

Happy DTing as always, but let’s just take a breath and remember it is a LLOOOOOONNNGGG season

..dont you be sorry, everybody has to start somewhere, this is my third year, you learn as you go along. Sort the wheat from the chaff, listen to the guys who give considered advice. My simple 2 cents worth..and you will hear it alot, dont waste your trades, they are gold to improve your team.

In fact really the majority of dt talk give good advice it’s just that 15% who need help and that 5% who just post random utter crap.

but yeah. Now if smith doesn’t play this week the earliest I’ll possibly trade now is rnd 4 where I could off board coniglio after a first price rise if no improvement or lake for darley or dohert if no improvement. Couldn’t say that list better myself.

Yes, you can go week to week looking for that super captain score, but overall you need the highest long term scoring player to be your captain. If you have Ablett, pick Ablett, if you have Swan, pick Swan.

Notice I did not say highest average score, because an average is measured over the number games played, not the highest amount of points scored. That’s why last year if you made Pendles your Captain all year you would have gotten more Captain points than any other player.

Pettiger, i have no problems with what you are saying about picking 1 captain for the year and sticking with him BUT to say pick picking Pendles all last year would have put you in front is BS. Swan only scored 32 less points and missed the 1 game……..and i’m sure you still would have named a captain the week Swan didn’t play…..and most would have picked someone like Ablett that week for 146 points. Net result is 114pts up if you picked Swan for all games he played!!!

I have a sort of odd question which Ill try and explain the best i can.

Question is, can you put monetary value on a trade?

for instance, as we all know players values don’t change until after round 3, is there any merit in using trades to get rid of your 2 worst performing rooks for 2 rooks with the lowest or negative BE? Is anyone else adopting this method? I have had this as my game plan since preseason to use 2-3 trades by round 3 simply to get the best rookes that will increase the most next round. So the question is, what monetary figure would a player need to bring for you to consider using a trade using the model of rookie for rookie.

** Just to avoid criticism I haven’t used a trade at all at this current moment as I agree with the majority on not trading after 1 round.

This I think is sometimes referred to as rookie swapping. There is a school of thought that if necessary, your consider burning two trades after round two to catch a rookie flyer you missed. Depending on the results of rd 2., Morris to Bugg, Cameron to Kennedy for example.

I will almost certainly use two trades next week to optimise my teams value potential. I see round 2 trades as purely being focussed on making $ (which also includes cashing out underperforming mid pricers as well as rookie swapping).

The Morris to Bugg trade is in the middle of my radar. I have no idea at this point what the second one is but it could be Ellis if there’s a suitable replacement there.

Spot on Clakka!
Many coaches will use a trade or 2, after round 2, (& not before,) to correct the selection of a dud rookie/s.

Similarly, they will trade out a player that unfortunately suffers an LTI, (long term injury.)

For example, Ellis and Morris are very popular choices amongst dreamteam coaches, but their performances last week were less than flattering and now many of us are questioning their scoring ability/job security.

Christian Howard looks like missing 4 weeks, could possibly see the vest in his return from injury as well, and at his price wouldn’t be worth holding onto imho- a problem I myself need to deal with, but again most importantly, NEXT WEEK!

The reason we avoid trading in round 1 is because trades are so valuable, and anything can happen in round 2, injury/suspension/omission….. PLUS we get to see whether a player, (esp rookie,) that performed well in round 1 can back it up in round 2- no-one wants to pick a dud “1 hit wonder!”

OK, so let’s forget that I have Howard, coz I’ve got Ellis & Morris as well.
Anyway, if they play and perform poorly again, and T.Bugg backs up his 97 from last round with lets say a 60+, I will most likely trade one of them to him.

And finally, yes, you can puy monetary value on a trade, I’d say $150K as an absolute minimum, but stand to be corrected!

N.b Apart from concerns with Howard/Ellis/Morris in my backline, I have Parker, JMac, Magner/C.Smith in my mids- I could be in a world of hurt this round, but I’d sooner cop a donut for a rookie missing early that might score 28 like Morris last week, and save the trades for Rnd 2 and further down the track.

no mean to disrespect all the great and hard work you lads put in, but would it be too much to ask if you created a thread where people could talk trades? or specify where we should post certain comments?

Great to see Calvin’s captains back. After last weeks games I was sure I’d be putting the c on SMJ again but the info above may sway me otherwise.

I have no players definitely out, and so the loophole is a scary prospect even if one of my rookies isn’t selected.

The loophole would allow me to take VC Adcocks 140pts :-), and place the big C on Morris/Ellis/Smedts/Dickson if they are not named. But I’d then spend the entire weekend convinced that they’ll be named as a last minute late change – and my captain score will be 2 x 27 !

Not worth the worry, and I’ll save the C and VC for the guys at the top of the Pirate’s list…

He will absolutely score 130+… if he plays the full game. I know it’s only round 2 but it has the red vest written all over it I fear, because the Eagles will absolutely shitmix Melbourne and it’s a great chance to rest him even though it’s only round 2. I’m all about the league wins this year so I may well take a stab at it since it ‘doesn’t count’ as such.

Kinda, I mean a tagging role isn’t really something you groom someone into like you would do with a key position role. It might take some time before the Cats find the right guy to fill Lingies massive shoes.

calvin you crazy drunken irish bastard. you must be off your head. 150+ from the rock(rockliff, not okeefe) this week. if he doesnt score more than each of your top 5 this week i will each my own shit for breakfast tuesday morning.

Calvin. What do you think about chucking the old C on Swallow against the Giants??? Freako says it might be worth a punt, what do you think? I’m also thinking about going Robbo with the loophole. May as well.

Just noticed Carrots is named in the middle and Robbo up forward. In terms of the loophole, who does everyone think would be a better option? Carrots vs Robbo. I can’t decide. Can Carrazzo really pull off a 120+?

With all todays DT resourses at our fingertips, such as Champion data (prospectus) footy record, DTTALK, footy forums etc, etc. It’s really good to know there still exists a percentage of Dream Teamer’s out there that are totally beyond all help! Ggod bless the clueless bottom feeders of the DT community….Amen.